LAKEWOOD, Colo. — An Aurora man arrested on suspicion of shooting and killing a man who was panhandling on Tuesday had previously been contacted by police after making threats, according to an arrest affidavit.
Randy Jiron, 40, was taken into custody after Lakewood police tracked him to a house in Strasburg.
Witnesses told Lakewood detectives that at about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, 52-year-old Craig Bruce was soliciting on the side of the road on the northbound off-ramp of 6th Avenue and Simms Street. A Jeep drove up and the person inside shot Bruce, police said. Bruce was rushed to a hospital, where he later died.
Police were able to talk to the victim before he was taken into surgery at the hospital. He told officers he was walking down the road and "was shot out of nowhere," the affidavit says. He told police he had no idea who shot him or why, and "did not mention having an argument or physical altercation with anyone," according to police.
The surgical staff worked on Bruce for about two hours, but the damage to his body was so extensive that he did not make it, according to the affidavit.
Police used witness accounts, traffic camera footage and cell phone records to connect Jiron and his Jeep to the area of the shooting.
The day after the shooting, police spotted the Jeep in Parker. Undercover Lakewood officers followed Jiron from Parker to a home in Strasburg, where he was taken into custody. The affidavit says the home belongs to one of Jiron's Facebook friends.
According to the affidavit, law enforcement had most recently contacted Jiron on Feb. 19, when the FBI asked Aurora police to contact him "following multiple phone calls to the F.B.I National Threat Operation Center the prior day." Jiron had made statements about mass shootings and a comment referring to "take out as many as I can," according to the affidavit.
Aurora police had also contacted Jiron on Feb. 2, when they were called to his home for a mental health crisis, according to the affidavit. After that contact, an officer noted "At past contact with Randy, he tends to be very volatile and angers easily. Reports mention suicide by cop. There is concern that if police show up at his residence, it will trigger a hostile response," according to the affidavit.
Jiron is being held in the Jefferson County jail on $5 million bond, according to jail records. His next court date is set for Thursday.
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